Tax rebate - or not! UPDATE with scam images.

[miasmum]

Plus look at the bank account number and sort code on that cheque. Completely bogus

[Workingman]

Suff, I did wonder about a paper trail.

AIA Solicitors was registered to an address in LS1, but looking online it looks like a drop-box address, You know, one of those PO Box places with little more than multiple letter boxes. As for the envelope, from memory it was plain white with a window to reveal my address on the letter - no stamp. No idea how / when it was delivered as it was on the mat when I got home. It went in the bin.

My NI number was never fully given anywhere, just the leading and ending letters. I redacted it as well as my address just in case as VV is public. The tax code is wrong as per other HMRC communication down the ages, but how many of us know ours on a regular basis?

Shell, the sort code is real, but the account number? However, at the time of receipt, who would have even checked? It all looked so legit. I have now had two phone calls from other entities regarding a PPI claim - both mobile numbers are logged on my phone. I told them both to foxtrot oscar.

Today I made a large purchase from somewhere I had never been for ages, Wheatfields Hospice charity shop, and it needed authentication before it went through. So Virgin is monitoring my account as requested, well done them.

[TheOstrich]

The Inland Revenue only use brown envelopes, they can't afford white.

I'm pretty sure that the NI number would have been quoted in full in a genuine communication, never known them to redact any part of it in a letter.

[Workingman]

I'm pretty sure that the NI number would have been quoted in full in a genuine communication, never known them to redact any part of it in a letter

Ossie, another flag that I noted, but how many of us would?

It looks like a complicated and sophisticated scam. I am a small player with few funds, a test, but there will be others further up the chain who will fall for it.

[Suff]

I am concerned that this is a targeted attack with knowledge of HMRC data.

It looks like the envelope was hand delivered, pity it went in the bin, fingerprint evidence could have been taken.

Also Very sophisticated. Lucky you are extremely skeptical.

[miasmum]

Now we know its easy to look for the clues, but as you say that now we know.

Is the sort code real? I googled it and it told me it didnt exist

[Workingman]

Shell, according to www.sortcodes.co.uk the sort code is registered to HMRC, so it is real.

Suff, I think it is a lucky dip on their part.

Millions of letters are sent out by HMRC and as you will know it is easy to scan one to something like pdf and then change it to suit one's needs. This is what I believe they have done. I am sure they do not know my full NI number, that is why it is just showing the first and last letter with the rest being asterisks. Those can be based on my DoB and location when it was first issued all those years ago. Names and addresses are easy to get from many different sources.

I made a PPI claim through an agent about seven or eight years ago, as did many others, which was long before data protection was as strong as it now is. I suspect that a lot of our details are now in the wild and this is where these new scammers are getting information from. Many of the agents who were set up to handled PPI claims no longer exist as their job was done, however, they might not have been diligent in destroying or securing their old records.

[Suff]

I get that WM, but this envelope was put through your door manually. Which means that they expected to get a hit with it. Because once you start doing that the cost is prohibitive.

If they had an expectation, then they had some info for that expectation. They can't go around blanket putting these envelopes through doors. They cost money and therefore the return has to be commensurate.